Out of the Blue

Dennis Hopper joined this film as an actor; when the production fell apart he took over directing, rewrote the script over a weekend, and rebuilt everything around Linda Manz's character. Manz plays Cebe, a furious teenager fixated on Elvis and Sid Vicious whose slogan is disco sucks, kill all hippies. Her father, a truck driver played by Hopper, caused the deaths of children by driving into a school bus and is just out of prison. The film covers his return home and the family's disintegration. Its hardness is in the ending; Hopper offers no deliverance and finishes off every remaining romance about seventies counterculture with a single act. It screened at Cannes in May 1980. Linda Manz caused a sensation there and many expected her to take Best Actress. Who it is for: viewers interested in harsh American independent cinema and the punk period. Who it is not for: anyone who would rather not approach abuse and suicide, both of which the film shows directly.